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Matteo Scala
Matteo Scala is a Italian race driver for Maverick Track Performance. He started his GPGSL career in Season 3 as a test driver for Phoenix Racing. Formerly the team owner for ScalaGP. He was formerly known as Paolo Tafuro Season 3 Tafuro made his debut in Season 3 during Hockenheim GP's Free Practice, as #2 tester for Phoenix Racing. He keeps testing for the rest of the season. His first season was quite good, with a 2nd place at his second session, at Indianapolis and other points in different places. Season 4 In Season 4 he makes his racing debut as #2 race driver for Phoenix Racing. He made an indifferent start, as he failed to gain points because of some unlucky events. His season finished strongly with some good points finishes and a 4th place at Sepang Circuit as top result. He was going to race in Season 5, but decided to take over Devil Fox Racing's team slot to bring his own team in the series, disallowing him from racing. Season 5 Season 5 started well for Tafuro, as he seemed to be able to score many points in first FPs, but then he lost ground on the top 12. MPR announced to have signed him as #2 test driver in Season 6, leaving his own team. Season 6 Season 6 didn't start really well for the Italian, but come the final standings he is 7th. He managed to take his first win in a session since his S3 debut, by getting the best time at Laguna Seca in the FP. Season 7 After the S6 end, he announced that he will use his real name, Matteo Scala, instead of Paolo Tafuro. This was thought to be because Mafia agents discovered he was holding out on protection payments. Despite a good performance in S6, MPR preferred to focus on a possible race driver for the future instead of having another teamboss. After many weeks of searching, he will make a comeback to his own team (which changed name to ScalaGP), causing an undesirable situation as the team had to re-announce the lineup twice. The season ended up with ScalaGP dead last in the WCC. Some races before Scala announced the team's retirement while no informations were given about his plans. Later Ricardo Van Smirren (yeh,that idiot) announced him as Scuderia Minardi's new test driver. Season 8 Scala started the season as 2nd Test Driver in Scuderia Minardi. Despite a not convincing pre-season race. He obtained the pole at Melbourne's feature race, putting himself on top of the time sheets for the 2nd time in his career. On Sunday he won the race, reaching his first win in GPGSL and obtaining the 1st place in the TDC. The good results showed by the Italian and the lack of activity by Ben Johnson caused a swap of seats in the team, causing Scala's comeback among the race drivers for the first time after S4. At his debut race, at Sepang, he reached the 7th place. Just one week later he got an amazing win in the Canadian Grand Prix after starting from the pole position. He got the fastest lap too. As the season progresses he obtains a 2nd place and other three top 10 placement. At Monaco he qualifies in 2nd place but retires during the race after a crash. The following weekend, at Magny Cours, the Italian driver scores his second hat trick (pole position, fastest lap and win). Together with Chris Warrington's most places gained point this was Minardi's best S8 weekend so far. The last two races don't bring other notable results to the Italian racer while the team manages to reach the 3rd place in WCC, remarking Minardi's return to the top places. Something that was quite unexpected at the start of the season. Season 9 Rumors say that he will retire to focus on his recently discovered alcohol addiction. Other rumors say that he's actually working in a task force to eliminate Silvio "Berlusca" Berlusconi. Other rumors say that, after high school's final exams, he will simply disappear from existence. Other news say that he might keep on driving till he wins 9 WDCs. No announcement was made about his intentions. Yet he's going to be seen as VSM #1 racer in S9. Surprisingly he obtains the pole at the first GP of the new season but in the race he finished 2nd after an early battle with Joseph Gilson and John Maverick. At Kyalami Scala obtained the pole at his last try and dominated the race till last laps when Moinet and Jalving managed to pass him. At Montréal he wins his first race in this season after starting 2nd and being overtaken by Maverick. At this point of the season the Italian driver has obtained points in just 3 races on 6 but he never ended below 3rd. At Road America Scala qualifies in 8th place but after a good start his car lacks the speed and the Italian goes home with a 12th place. Season 10 Following the retirement of Van Smirren Motorsports the Italian driver was left without a competitive race seat for S10. Thus MPR found his agreement for testing duties for S10. Team Ownership He owned a team called ScalaGP, which made its debut in GPGSL in Season 5. This was the product of a buyout of Devil Fox Racing.﻿ Curiosities *Despite the surname showed above, the Italian driver has nothing to do with Mussolini. *As well he isn't involved in "Cosa Nostra", "Ndrangheta", "Camorra", "Sacra Corona Unita" or other Italian mafias. Racing record Complete Grandprixgames Super League results (key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap; underlined races indicate most places gained) Scala, Matteo Scala, Matteo